Art for Sale Page 2

“The American people do not support this,” said the former Vice President of the United States.
Former Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is speaking out against President Donald Trump‘s latest threat against Iran, rebuking it as “abhorrent.”
“The President of the United States is threatening to commit war crimes and wipe out a ‘whole civilization’ — all because he started a disastrous war of his own making and had no plan and no strategy for how to end it,” Harris said in a public statement on Tuesday.
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Earlier in the day, President Trump wrote on Truth Social, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” further escalating his Easter Day threat to bomb Iran’s civilian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, if Iran does not open up the Strait of Hormuz. The blockage of the waterway, through which more than 20% of the world’s oil and gas is shipped, has resulted in skyrocketing gas prices in the U.S. and around the world. President Trump gave Iran a deadline of Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET to stop the blockage, telling Iranian leaders, “Open the F—kin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH!“
Harris, who lost the 2024 presidential election to Trump, arguably over the Biden-Harris administration’s involvement in Israel’s deadly military operation in Gaza that killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, said of Trump’s threat: “This is abhorrent, and the American people do not support this.”
The potential 2028 presidential candidate added, “Trump’s recklessness is needlessly putting our brave service members in harm’s way, destroying America’s global standing, and making life even more unaffordable for the American people. We must all stand against this and oppose funding this illegal war of choice.”
Since leaving office and returning to civilian life, Harris has remained a vocal critic of Trump and his second administration. While promoting her memoir “107 Days,” which details her personal reflections on her historic presidential campaign, and other public speaking events, Harris has slammed Trump’s domestic and foreign policies, including the deployment of U.S. military troops to American cities and the Trump administration’s aggressive and deadly immigration enforcement.
Many supporters of Harris have pointed out that the former vice president tried to warn American voters about many of Trump’s actions taken since returning to the White House. She herself has said as much.
“I predicted a lot about what’s happening right now. I’m not into saying I told you so, but we did see it coming,” Harris told a church full of mostly Black Americans at the funeral service for civil rights icon Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. in March.
Last week, in a video message ahead of Trump’s primetime address updating Americans on the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, Harris said, as a result of Trump’s war, “Costs are rising by the day, and meanwhile, he has done nothing to address the needs of the people of America.”
She added, “I bet you, he’s going to try and claim victory tonight. But the reality is, we’re watching what he does instead of listening to what he says.”
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The decision was reportedly made by the UK Home Office on the grounds that Ye’s presence would not be “conducive to the public good.”
Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) has been barred from entering the United Kingdom, a decision that has led to the cancellation of a major summer music event in London.
According to reporting from the Associated Press, UK authorities denied Ye permission to travel to the country, where he had been scheduled to headline the Wireless Festival in July. The three-day event, expected to draw around 150,000 attendees to Finsbury Park, has now been called off entirely.
The decision was reportedly made by the UK Home Office on the grounds that Ye’s presence would not be “conducive to the public good,” a standard used in immigration and entry rulings.
 The move follows years of controversy surrounding the artist, including widely condemned antisemitic statements and public praise for Adolf Hitler.
Pressure had been building in the lead-up to the announcement. Several major sponsors, including Pepsi, Rockstar Energy, and Diageo, withdrew their support after Ye was confirmed as a headliner. British politicians also voiced strong opposition, with senior officials arguing he should not be given a platform.
In response to the backlash, Ye recently said he was open to meeting members of the UK’s Jewish community, stating he wanted to demonstrate personal growth following earlier controversies. He had previously issued a public apology, attributing some of his past behavior to a mental health episode.
Despite that, critics remained unconvinced. Community leaders emphasized that meaningful change would need to be demonstrated over time, not on a high-profile festival stage.
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One of the 33 sheets that make up the Lucknow scroll depicts a pink palace Courtesy Yale Center for British Art
Following two years of conservation, a 37ft-long, early 19th-century scroll is on public view for the first time at the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA) in New Haven, Connecticut. Known as the Lucknow scroll, the object is part of the exhibition Painters, Ports and Profits: Artists and the East India Company, 1750-1850 (until 21 June), bringing questions of empire, commerce and artistic exchange into material focus. Due to the scroll’s size and fragility, half of it will be exhibited at a time and unrolled over the course of the show, giving repeat visitors a chance to see different sections. (Displaying the object in portions also helps reduce light exposure.)
Scrolls range in scale from handheld objects to ones even larger than the Lucknow example, and they have served a variety of purposes. “Within artistic traditions on the Indian subcontinent, narrative scrolls were popular forms of art,” the exhibition curators Laurel O. Peterson and Holly Shaffer tell The Art Newspaper. “These were made for people at all levels of society. They often tell devotional narratives, unfolding as the scroll is unrolled. In early 19th-century Britain, scrolls were used for entertainment at home and might be a souvenir.” Though printed in multiples, scrolls were considered luxury objects.
Emma Hartman, the assistant conservator of paper at Yale University Art Gallery, unrolling the Lucknow Scroll. Photo: Anita Dey, image courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art
The Lucknow scroll, or Lucknow from the Gomti, was made between 1821 and 1826 and comprises 33 joined sheets of laid paper, executed in watercolour, gouache and gold. It offers an expansive view of Lucknow in northern India, as seen from across the Gomti River.
“We can think about the Lucknow scroll in terms of storytelling, as it allows the viewer to follow a journey along the banks of the river,” the curators say. “The English-language key written in 1826 describes the work as a ‘Panoramic View of Lucknow’, suggesting a link between the two forms—but panoramas represent the landscape from a fixed viewing point, rather than a continuous one.”
Created during the reign of Ghazi-ud-Din Haidar Shah—who declared independence from the Mughal emperor in 1819 and embarked on ambitious building campaigns—the scroll captures palaces and mosques, as well as workshops, warehouses and vernacular structures.
“The scroll has a fascinating story both historically and materially, in part because it’s so mysterious,” the curators say. “We don’t know the names of the artists who made it.” The patron is also unknown, they add, but its inscriptions “place little emphasis on the company, signalling that the scroll was likely made for, or in honour of, the ruler—perhaps at the request of an elite woman in his retinue”. It could also have been part of a military or political negotiation.
Anita Dey, the assistant paper conservator at the Yale Center For British Art, and Emma Hartman, the assistant conservator of paper at Yale University Art Gallery, examining the Lucknow Scroll under ultraviolet light. Photo: Jessica Makin, image courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art
Over the years, the scroll developed areas of pigment instability and structural weakness. “The primary conservation challenges stemmed from the scroll’s complex layered construction,” says Anita Dey, the assistant paper conservator at the YCBA. “It is composed of multiple sheets of paper joined together with subsequent linings of another paper layer and a cotton-textile backing. While this structure helped protect the scroll from wear associated with handling through its lifetime, it also introduced significant planar distortions that prevented the object from lying flat as originally intended.”
Conservation treatment at the YCBA began with stabilisation to prevent further loss and flattening the object, ensuring it could be safely unrolled and displayed. Among the noteworthy findings revealed during conservation was a watermark for the British mill of James Whatman, a discovery that helped narrow the scroll’s date and understand it within broader trade networks.
The London-based collector Davinder Toor holds one of the most significant collections of Sikh works in the US and the UK

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Olympians Noah Lyles and Junelle Bromfield celebrated their wedding in Trenton, Ga.
Olympic track stars Noah Lyles and Junelle Bromfield are officially husband and wife!
The gold medal sprinter and the Olympic bronze medalist, both 28, tied the knot on Saturday, April 4, in Trenton, Ga., at The Conservatory at Blackberry Ridge, in a celebration that blended elegance, culture, and Black love under a fitting theme, “shades of melanin.”
“I heard I didn’t walk down the aisle. I heard that I ran,” Bromfield joked in an interview with Vogue, later describing the entire day as “magical.”
The festivities began with a breathtaking outdoor ceremony bathed in soft neutral tones like champagne, beige, dusty rose, and pale yellow. While reading their custom vows, Lyles held Bromfield’s vow book for her as her nerves were getting the better of her. Throughout the day, the couple intentionally wove together Bromfield’s Jamaican roots and Lyles’ Black American heritage. Fashion, of course, played a huge role. 
For her part, the bride walked down the aisle in a romantic, regal custom princess gown by Pantora Bridal, featuring crystal embellishments across the bodice that spilled into a dramatic, full skirt. The choice was especially meaningful, as the designer is not only Black but also a fellow Jamaican woman. For the reception, she switched into a dazzling off-the-shoulder white lace corset mini dress with long sleeves, intricate beading, and a flowing train, balancing regal bridal glamour with a little modern edge.
Meanwhile, for the ceremony, the groom stepped out in a textured brown suit by New York-based designer Musika. After learning his bride planned a second look, Lyles decided to raise the fashion stakes himself, commissioning a brown version of the suit he famously wore to the Met Gala.
The couple’s brown color palette carried through to their wedding party, with bridesmaids and groomsmen dressed in varying shades of the rich color. Lyles also added a playful personal touch, lining each groomsman’s jacket with their favorite anime character, a nod to his well-known love of anime.
The day also held space for remembrance. A reserved seat honored loved ones who could not be there, while Bromfield, who lost her mother in 2021, was moved to tears by her wedding planner surprising her with a small photo of her mother attached to her bouquet as a pendant so she could carry her with her down the aisle.
After the ceremony, the celebration really shifted into high gear. The reception that followed featured lively performances from the bridal party, including the groomsmen jigging to “Turnt Up,” the bridesmaids dancing to Jamaican hits, and the newlyweds sharing their first dance to a blend of Jamaican and American classics after Lyles danced with his mother and Bromfield danced with her father. The couple cut into a multi-tiered ombré brown cake. There was a band, a DJ, and a live performance by gospel singer Tasha Cobbs. By the couple’s account, once the dance floor opened, no one wanted to leave.
The night ended with pizza and on a rather cinematic note with a fireworks display followed by a gentle rainfall that the couple initially worried might derail the festivities but ultimately arrived like a punctuation mark adding to the magic.
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Bromfield and Lyles tied the knot after announcing their engagement in October 2024, after about two years of dating. However, the two Olympic sprinters technically first connected in 2018, when Bromfield made the first move via Lyles’ Instagram DMs.
“Junelle decided to slide into my DMs, asking me the question, ‘Do you cook?’” Lyles recalled while speaking to Vogue. “And so from there, it led to a very long seven-year story of us eventually meeting, falling in love, being able to be with each other, not being able to be with each other, and then finally getting into a relationship where we have always stayed together—and now have gotten married.”
So, don’t be afraid to shoot your shot in these streets!
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April 7, 2026
National Black Bookstore Day recognizes independent bookstores
It’s official. April 7 is now National Black Bookstore Day. The initiative was powered by the former mayor of Sacramento and former NBA star Kevin Johnson. Johnson is also the founder of the National Association of Black Bookstores and the owner of Underground Books. 
National Black Bookstore Day recognizes independent bookstores for their essential work in community building and the preservation of historical legacies. Black-owned bookstores have operated as central hubs for activism, civil rights, educational activities, and cultural preservation. The number of Black-owned bookstores in the United States increased from 54 in 2010 to more than 300 to date, proving Black communities do support Black bookstores. Check out these nine nationally recognized Black-owned bookstores.
Julian and Raye Richardson established this San Francisco bookstore that has remained a fundamental part of Black literary culture in the Bay Area for more than 60 years. The bookstore operates under its second-generation leadership, educating people while serving as a center for activist work and community involvement. Marcus Books focuses on African American literature and history. The store began operations in 1960 and has become the oldest independent bookstore owned by Black Americans in the United States.
Noëlle Santos established the bookstore-and-wine-bar hybrid, The Lit. Bar, which stands as The Bronx’s sole independent bookstore. The store began operations in 2019 with the mission of eliminating “book deserts” and bringing literary resources back to underserved communities.
Hakim’s Bookstore, established by Dawud Hakim in 1959, is Philadelphia’s oldest Black-owned bookstore. The bookstore, which is located in West Philadelphia, is a specialized collection center for Black historical and educational materials.
DJ Johnson established this contemporary bookstore and coffee space in New Orleans during the early 2020s. The establishment rapidly developed into a community institution that prioritizes literacy and cultural connection.
Janet Webster Jones founded this Detroit bookstore, which focuses on nonfiction, health, and social justice topics. The bookstore began operations in 2002, with a mission to foster social change and empower individuals through knowledge.
Couple Derrick and Ramunda founded MahoganyBooks, which became a nationally recognized Black-owned bookstore brand. MahoganyBooks began selling books online in 2007 and added a physical store in 2017 while maintaining its headquarters in Washington, D.C. MahoganyBooks promotes “Black books matter” through its curated selections and author events.
Nikki High established Kindred Stories as a Black bookstore and community space in Houston in 2021. The store focuses its literary and programmatic work on Black women and social justice narratives.
Rosa Duffy founded For Keeps Books, a rare bookstore that focuses on Black print culture and ephemera. The bookstore started operations in 2018 on Auburn Ave. in Atlanta, Georgia’s Black historic district. Duffy’s goal is to protect rare Black publications and archival materials that are essential to Black history and culture.
Kathy Burnette established Brain Lair Books as a children’s bookstore in South Bend, Indiana, to help children find literature that reflects their own identities. The bookstore started operations in 2019 and specializes in diverse stories that connect with children from every background.
RELATED CONTENT: Elevating Your Excellence: Denene Millner Is A GOAT In The Literary Game

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Michigan claimed its first NCAA men’s basketball championship since 1989 over UConn on April 6, 2026, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Michigan claimed its first NCAA men’s basketball championship since 1989 with a thrilling 69-63 victory over UConn on April 6, 2026, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The Wolverines, ranked No. 3 nationally and the top seed in the Midwest, capped off a historic season with their second-ever national title, joining the 1989 squad that triumphed in Seattle.
Led by standout performances from Elliot Cadeau (2026 Final Four Most Outstanding Player) and Yaxel Lendeborg, Michigan showcased resilience and teamwork to overcome UConn, a program vying for its third title in four years.
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The Wolverines’ journey to the championship was marked by dominance, with an average margin of victory exceeding 20 points in their tournament games.
Their victory also ended a 26-year title drought for the Big Ten Conference, which last celebrated a men’s basketball championship in 2000.
Michigan’s success reflects the evolving landscape of college basketball, with all five starters transferring into the program, a first for an NCAA champion.
Coach Dusty May’s leadership and the team’s chemistry proved pivotal in their title run.
RELATED | Dusty May’s Coaching Timeline
The win not only solidifies Michigan’s place among college basketball’s elite but also brings significant financial rewards to the Big Ten, with the conference earning $58 million in NCAA tournament payouts.
For Michigan fans, this victory is a long-awaited celebration.
Michigan Ends Title Drought with Thrilling NCAA Championship Win Over UConn was originally published on 1075thefan.com

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April 7, 2026
Rev. Al Sharpton has acquired a century-old building in Harlem to redevelop it as the new headquarters for the National Action Network.
Rev. Al Sharpton has acquired the Faison Firehouse Theater on Hancock Place in Harlem as part of a redevelopment effort to establish a new headquarters for his National Action Network.
The renowned civil rights leader, who recently spoke at the funeral of his longtime friend and mentor, Rev. Jesse Jackson, announced plans to relocate the National Action Network, the organization he founded in 1991, to the newly acquired Faison Firehouse Theater, which will be transformed into the House of Justice Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Workshop.
“I ain’t gonna be no more famous,” Sharpton told The New York Times. “The question is, what do I leave?”
Rev. Jesse Jackson’s connection to the project goes beyond its name. Sharpton’s civil rights organization, long based in a rented West 145th Street office that Jackson affectionately called the “House of Justice,” is now moving into a permanent home. Jackson’s son, Jesse Jackson Jr., said the shift to ownership reflects his father’s long friendship with Sharpton and his vision of securing lasting stability in the fight for justice.
“My father saw Reverend Sharpton as one of his best students,” Jackson Jr. said. “He called him disciple No. 1.”
The century-old building, originally designed by Howard Constable in 1909 as a firehouse, was later transformed into a community theater and residence by choreographer George Faison in 1999. In March 2025, Faison approached Sharpton about selling the property to a non-developer, leading to the deal. According to NAN Vice Chair Jennifer Jones Austin, the organization expects to invest between $5 million and $7 million in the purchase and renovations.
Sharpton said he envisions the space as a hub for arts and activism rooted in the spirit of the Harlem Renaissance. The project is also part of a broader effort to push back against gentrification in Harlem, where the Black population has steadily declined from about 77% in 2000 to roughly 50% in 2023, while Hispanic and white populations have grown.
“Harlem was the place of political power, and that’s been decimated,” Sharpton said. “I hope the House of Justice represents people that will print their roots and stay right there.”
Kevin McGruder, author of “Race and Real Estate: Conflict and Cooperation in Harlem, 1890–1920,” noted that while neighborhood change is natural, gentrification is different—especially when race plays a role, making it more than just a neutral market shift. Meanwhile, Stephen Wilder of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission and principal at Think Wilder Architecture in Harlem emphasized that developers must understand and respect a neighborhood’s history before pursuing new development.
“When you’re in a community, the question is how do you add without taking away,” Wilder said.

RELATED CONTENT: In The Spirit of Jesse Jackson, Obama And Sharpton Urge New Generation To Keep The Fight Alive

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Felipe Baeza, Ahuehuete, 2018 The Lumpkin-Boccuzzi Family Collection. © Felipe Baeza. Courtesy Maureen Paley, London; kurimanzutto, Mexico City/New York.
Following a dozen museum shows around Latin America exploring the deep and destructive consequences of colonial dispossession, the Chicago institution Wrightwood 659 is staging a cumulative survey that explores the loss of land, culture and language in the region and its consequences today.
Dispossessions in the Americas: The Extraction of Bodies, Land, and Heritage from La Conquista to the Present will include works by more than 35 contemporary Latin American artists, some of whom have never shown in the United States. Participants include the Guatemalan performance artist and poet Regina José Galindo, the Indigenous Peruvian artist Rember Yahuarcani, the late Cuban American conceptual artist Ana Mendieta, the Ecuadorian trans activist Purita Pelayo and the Colombian conceptual artist and film-maker Miguel Ángel Rojas. Altogether, their work seeks to show the impacts of dispossession on Indigenous, Afro-descendant, queer and trans communities.
“Very rarely do we find American exhibitions foregrounding aspects of dispossession,” says Jonathan D. Katz, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who co-curated the show with the independent curator Eduardo Carrera. “Yet this country was built on it.”
Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, Monumento al pasado para el futuro, Sol, 2024. Courtesy of RGR Gallery and the Artist.
The exhibition series is just one part of a $5m Mellon Foundation-supported research project of the same name at UPenn featuring studies, analyses, story-mapping, podcasts, films and curricula shown on an interactive map of the region. The arts portion, led by Katz, commissioned museums including the National Museum of Fine Arts in Santiago, the national museums of modern art in Bogotá and Mexico City, and the Fundación Klemm in Buenos Aires to stage and curate their own shows between 2021 and 2024.
“We felt that it was very important not to essentially reify the dispossession by coming in and doing the exhibitions ourselves,” Katz says. One requirement, however, was for each institution to acquire the work of an Indigenous artist not previously in its collection. The resulting shows, he says, were thoughtfully curated, including at the Lima Museum of Contemporary Art, where Amazonian artists travelled down the river to different villages with their works, rather than solely exhibit them in Lima.
At Wrightwood 659, the works will include an ink and tempera painting by the Mexican artist Felipe Baeza showing foliage bursting from a figure’s mouth; pillows stitched by the Dominican artist Lizette Nin featuring the names of Chile’s family dynasties and the enslaved people in their employment; and a video performance piece by the Mapuche artist Seba Calfuqueo, in which she suspends her body above water, meditating on the privatisation of Chile’s water supplies under the dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Seba Calfuqueo, Kowkülen (Ser líquido), 2020. Courtesy of the artist.
In addition to the photographs, sculptures, paintings, performance and installations housed inside Wrightwood 659, there will also be a video art series at the nearby Park Presbyterian Church, showing on weekends on a biweekly schedule.
Though the featured works in Dispossessions in the Americas date back to the 1960s, a turbulent period marked by US intervention in Latin America, they capture centuries of history. The show “fundamentally is about the continuing toll of colonialism and how ideas that date, after all, from the 1500s continue to animate so much of what goes on”, Katz says.
That toll has only become more apparent in the lead-up to the show, as Donald Trump’s administration deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, conducted and supported military operations in Mexico and Ecuador, and has signalled a potential intervention in Cuba as well.
Saskia Calderón, Lunas que no vi, 2020. Courtesy of the artist.
“We have gone back over 100 years in our foreign policy thinking, and we operate the way colonial nations once freely operated,” Katz says. “And what I find astounding is that it doesn’t seem to be troubling to the American people.”
He hopes that visitors will understand the continued threat of dispossession for Latin American heritage as they sit with the works. “What we need to do is stand in solidarity with these people, often against the interests of American corporations and their colonial aiders and abettors towards a kind of generative freedom in Latin America that is, unfortunately, more and more distant.”
From Seoul-born artist Dabin Ahn’s first solo show with Document to dancehall and reggaetón at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
Museum of Contemporary art exhibition goes beyond the anti-Minimalist tagline
This will be the largest show of modern Latin American art to be presented in the United States

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For fans of Brandy, revelations about collaborators like Darkchild taking her signature sound for other singers after their split over Beyoncé, and Kanye West hijacking creative control, might as well be blasphemy for the Vocal Bible. For the first time, the perfectly polished singer gets vulnerable about the silent battles that shaped her personal and professional life in the new memoir, Phases.
The fallout continues from from details about Wanya Morris “using” Brandy in their relationship when he was 22 and she was only 16. However, the Boyz II Men singer isn’t the only man in the industry she said betrayed her behind the scenes. In the book, she discusses the game-changing partnerships between singers and producers, like Janet Jackson and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, or Aaliyah and Timbaland. Brandy forged a similar sacred bond with Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, but she claims things took a treacherous turn after they became romantically involved.
In Phases, Brandy recalled the moment she knew her relationship was over with Darkchild; it happened after an argument ended with a jab about Beyoncé.
“We were going at it like usual, the way siblings do when they know exactly which buttons to push. Only this time, he looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘Go do what you’re gonna do while I go sell 5 MILLION records with Beyoncé.’ The words landed like a gut punch. I stormed out of the studio; humiliation burned through me like a wildfire. Left behind in the ashes was a sad realization that it was time for me to move on,” she wrote.
The working relationship started with Brandy’s admiration for his work on Mary J. Blige’s 1997 song, “I Can Love You.” The pair quickly became a powerhouse, with Darkchild producing some of her biggest hits, including “The Boy Is Mine.” Brandy discussed the synergy that defined her unique sound. Once the relationship was over, so was the exclusivity for the musical magic they made in the studio together. Darkchild not only went on to sell millions of records with other artists like he threatened, but also took their trailblazing techniques with him. Meanwhile, she claims the super producer prohibited her from continuing with the sound that made Brandy “Brandy.”
“Him working with other artists wasn’t an issue for me. I was exceptionally proud of what he built with Darkchild. I celebrated every one of his victories as if it were my own. But the pride got harder to hold when I started to hear our sound, my sound echoing from the sound of their other women—the same intricate vocal arrangements with stacked harmonies that have been my signature. The same song structure, the same approach we innovated on Never Say Never and Full Moon. At first, I told myself I was being sensitive and petty, even. ‘This is the business,’ I whispered to myself. Nobody owns sound [until he refuses to let me use them on my own songs],” she continued.
Ouch! Some social media users ran with these excerpts as proof of a rumored feud with Beyoncé or jealousy of other singers. Instead, the reactions became another example of the push to pit women in the industry against each other while men face little to no consequences for manipulating or taking advantage of them. Many comments called out internet instigators for trying so hard to read between the lines for their own narratives that they missed this recurring theme throughout Brandy’s career.
Read more about Brandy’s hardest fight for creative control when Kanye West unexpectedly entered the chat after the flip!
With or without added relationship drama, women in the music industry often fought uphill battles for every aspect of their creative vision. Even when Brandy was nearly finishing her fourth studio album, Afrodisiac, her own record label was undermining her.
“The dust had barely settled when I discovered the truth: the label was hoping to court Kanye to come to Atlantic. Without consulting me, they had offered Kanye two placements on my album, with the added condition that one of his records would be the lead single. They would also give him free rein to create the video treatment for that single, Brandy said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Despite her track record of success, including movies and her own hit TV show, Brandy’s approval was an afterthought to Atlantic Records. Kanye’s sudden involvement was bargaining chip presented as “a decree wrapped in the thin disguise of collaborative decision-making.”
Both stars worked well for their first track together, “Talk About Our Love.” Unfortunately, it didn’t last on the second song, “Where You Wanna Be.” There was so much tension and turmoil that there were two different versions of the single, and a heated debated between Brandy and Kanye.
“The album was otherwise complete, and I was still hot over having to compromise my creative vision by bringing in another producer at the eleventh hour. But I made the concession and played the team game. The records came out dope—no denying that. But our disagreement over which version of ‘Where You Wanna Be’ would make the final cut became a power struggle. And I didn’t understand why Kanye was fighting me on it. I just wanted a different mix of the vocals. We went back and forth for days, and I refused to make another concession. Especially not about how my voice was presented,” she explained.
No matter how much she tried to compromise about which version to release, Brandy said it still wasn’t enough for controlling Kanye. She tried one last time to work things out only for the rapper to shut down the conversation before it started.
“He barely looked up from the soundboard. ‘Nah, I can’t do that.’ His eyes met mine, unflinching, a challenge in their depths. ‘I can’t because I turned it in already,’” she continued.
When she asked what he meant by that, Brandy wrote that he barely acknowledged that he had already steamrolled over her creative vision:
“He shrugged, turning back to his work as though this conversation was already over. ‘You’ll be aight,’ he said with a smug grin that set my teeth on edge. That may sound like a minor disagreement to someone on the outside looking in. But to me, it represented a stripping away of my agency, on a deeply personal project. But I couldn’t afford to be upset or angry. I still had a video to shoot and a record to promote with Kanye. I’d also promised [Atlantic executive Gee Roberson] that I would return the favor and do a record on Kanye’s sophomore album, Late Registration. So, I swallowed my pride along with the lump in my throat, forced a smile that didn’t reach my eyes, and nodded like this was all part of the process.”
For every triumph of another project completed, Brandy fought countless uphill battles to make them happen. These shocking and often tragic revelations stayed hidden for years to protect her image and reputation among peers. Now, they’re a testament to all that the legendary singer overcame to find her voice and defy the odds.

Brandy’s Memoir Reveals Musical Breakup With Darkchild Over Beyoncé Shade, Her Stolen Signature Sound & Creative Clashes With Kanye was originally published on bossip.com

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Theaster Gates inside the exhibition, Dave: All My Relations at Gagosian’s 821 Park Avenue location in New York, with the historic work by David Drake from his personal collection that he is gifting to Dave’s descendants, and seated on a new sculpture he made by pulverizing around 45 of his own pots Photo: Maris Hutchinson
The artist Theaster Gates honours the legacy of the enslaved ceramicist David Drake, also known as Dave the Potter, in his new exhibition Dave: All My Relations at Gagosian’s Park Avenue space in New York. The show is anchored by two vessels by Drake, including one work that was returned to Drake’s descendants by the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston last year in a groundbreaking restitution agreement. The other vessel comes from Gates’s personal collection and will also be returned to Drake’s descendants.
Drake was born around 1800 in Edgefield, South Carolina, and died around 1874. Throughout his life, he created striking alkali-glazed stoneware with clay sourced from the Edgefield area, and signed and etched many of his works with writings and poems despite laws that prohibited enslaved people in the state from reading and writing.
Gates pulverised 45 pots from his studio—works created for previous exhibitions that he kept and knew would not enter the market—to create a ceramic and concrete aggregate plinth to display the Drake vessel from his collection. The gesture aims to do a “poetic justice” to the work by placing Drake’s artistic legacy above his own.
Theaster Gates, Dave: All My Relations, 2026, installation view at Gagosian, New York Artwork: © Theaster Gates; © Dave the Potter Legacy Trust LLC. Photo: Maris Hutchinson. Courtesy Gagosian
“The conceptual attempt was to not make pots that demonstrate my ceramic prowess but break my pots to celebrate this beautiful object that Dave made,” Gates tells The Art Newspaper. “To sacrifice my vessels is very much an offering to Dave and his family. It’s a very small gesture, but having this contract with Dave’s family—and just having a moment where the public can bear witness to this exchange—feels like the right kind of exhibition for me right now.”
Gates began communicating with Drake’s family last year after receiving a call from the lawyer overseeing their restitution claims, George Fatheree. Before the return of the works from the MFA Boston last year, Fatheree claims that no museum had ever resolved a restitution claim for works taken under the conditions of slavery in America.
“I quickly explained that I wasn’t interested in giving them the work from some institutional or racially motivated place. I was interested in sharing the work back with them as a gift,” Gates says. “I was excited to give it back from a position of artistic and familial right. We have been in direct conversation for the last year thinking about how we can best honour Dave, the family and our commitment to each other.”
Gates first became interested in Drake’s work in 2008 while studying ceramics under Ingrid Lilligren, who introduced him to a 1998 exhibition about Drake at the McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. This encounter sparked his enduring interest in Drake’s work, how it persisted despite systemic erasure and how it shaped a lineage of Black material culture.
Gates collaborated with the curator Ethan Lasser for the exhibition To Speculate Darkly: Theaster Gates and Dave the Potter at the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2010, which explored Drake’s life and practice through his vessels and other multimedia works. Drake’s descendants were unknown until six years after this exhibition when April Hynes, a genealogist researching Drake’s lineage, was able to track down members of the family. When Lasser organised the traveling show Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2022-23, Drake’s descendants were brought into the narrative as consultants.
Theaster Gates, Dave: All My Relations, 2026, installation view at Gagosian, New York Artwork: © Theaster Gates; © Dave the Potter Legacy Trust LLC. Photo: Maris Hutchinson. Courtesy Gagosian
The vessel restituted from the MFA and on view at Gagosian is a jar made in 1857 and inscribed with the date and Drake’s name. The vessel from Gates’s collection dates to around the same time; Gates acquired it at auction in 2021.
“What I knew before I bought it was that it didn’t have a poetry couplet. Instead, it was just Dave’s name, beautifully incised, with a year and date,” Gates says. “The pot was very humble—one of the smaller pots within the collection of Dave’s works. A collector would probably not call this the exceptional life work of Dave. It was an everyday pot made by a great potter.”
The exhibition’s title references the inscription on a different Drake vessel, which reads: “I wonder where is all my relation.” The statement poignantly references what scholars believe was Drake’s forced separation from a woman thought to be his wife and her two sons. The show also includes works made between 2008 and 2009 that give context to Gates’s engagement with Drake’s work, and a large alkali-glazed pot made using techniques, materials and finishes similar to those Drake utilised.
“My practice has always been interested in the ways that history hides, or seems like it hides, but it’s right there in our face. All we have to do is really look for the things that inspire us,” Gates says. “Dave was so much of an inspiration to me but, over the years, my career was the one that grew as a result of talking about Dave and his history. With this exhibition, Dave is the headline—the main protagonist.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified the David Drake vessel that is the source of the exhibition’s title. The article has been revised accordingly.
The exhibition stages works ranging from Dave the Potter in 1834 to contemporary responses by the likes of Theaster Gates and Simone Leigh
The Chicago-based artist will design the 2022 Serpentine Pavillion
Chicago artist strives for a poetic “resurrection” of African American stories in a solo show in Minneapolis

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The YouTuber-turned-boxer says he’s considering filming a response after praising Druski’s viral parody, but his comments are already drawing criticism.
Jake Paul is facing backlash after revealing he may create a controversial response to a viral comedy skit by Druski that mocked conservative women.
Speaking on the podcast “This Past Weekend” with Theo Von, Paul said he found Druski’s video “hilarious,” even as it sparked debate online. The skit, which featured Druski in “whiteface,” was widely interpreted as parodying conservative figures, including Erika Kirk, though she was not directly named.
“Honestly, it’s fucking hilarious. I loved it. I’m obviously Republican and all the Republicans being mad about this shit is like a f—king L for Republicans because this is f—king hilarious. And even though it’s f—king dark and twisted, this is what comedy f—king is—that we are f—king humans. Let’s make fun of ourselves, and there’s truth in this. An extreme truth, and people weren’t ready for that,” he said.
Paul said he has already begun contacting makeup artists with the idea of filming his own response, hinting it could push boundaries even further. While he did not confirm exactly what the video would involve, he suggested it would mirror the tone of Druski’s parody and questioned whether audiences are willing to accept that level of humor across the board.
“I was going to do a response… go full on and just do it back,” Paul said during the interview, indicating he sees comedy as a space where “we should make fun of each other.”
As reported by Complex, the conversation quickly turned to broader debates about race, satire, and what is considered acceptable in comedy. Paul dismissed the idea of collaborating with a Black creator to soften potential criticism, arguing that doing so would undermine his point.
The discussion also referenced past controversies involving blackface, including incidents tied to public figures like Justin Trudeau and Jimmy Kimmel, both of whom have previously apologized for similar actions.
Experts say the backlash surrounding Druski’s original skit and now Paul’s proposed response highlights ongoing tensions around satire and power dynamics. Scholars note that while “whiteface” is often framed as punching up at positions of power, blackface has a long history tied to racist caricatures and discrimination.
The viral nature of the original video even drew attention from Donald Trump, who recently suggested that Erika Kirk could consider legal action, further amplifying the controversy.
As of now, Paul has not announced a timeline for releasing any response video. However, his comments have already fueled a wider conversation about where audiences draw the line between comedy and offense in today’s media landscape.
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A plant-based powerhouse is ready to step into the Bravosphere and speak truth amid a wave of headlines.
“I’m not just an entrepreneur, I’m a human being that has highs, that has lows, and people can see that and relate. She’s tangible,” said #RHOA’s resident restaurateur.
Pinky Cole is joining season 17 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta at a pivotal moment when she’s balancing life as a wife, mom, and CEO while opening up about both her wins and her setbacks.
“If you’re going to do this show, you’ve got to give it everything,” the Slutty Vegan founder told BOSSIP. You’ve got to be open and be an open book.”
That openness includes letting viewers in on one of the most difficult chapters of her journey.
After a company restructure that temporarily cost her ownership of Slutty Vegan, Pinky ultimately bought the brand back, which later came alongside a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and mounting financial pressures tied to loans and tax obligations.
She told BOSSIP that at one point, everything was falling apart behind the scenes.
“Here it is, I’m raising $250,000 for people, and my company is falling apart,” she said. “I died on the inside before anybody else went to my funeral.”
Even as recent headlines swirled about creditors seizing her Georgia home and changing the locks, Pinky says she had already done the emotional work.
“Before the world knew what was going on, I suffered in silence,” she said. “So by the time all of the news started to hit the media, I had already begun my healing process.”
And now she is flipping the narrative with a series of skits tied to the negative press she’s received. Her most recent spoofed her getting the keys back to her rental property with a reenactment of the infamous Ms. Parker scene from Friday.
“You going to troll me? I’m going to troll you back,” she told BOSSIP with a laugh.
Still, Pinky is clear-eyed about the reality of public scrutiny.
“Controversy is what sells,” she said. “But at the end of the day, I’ve got a thick skin because I had to suffer alone by myself.”
Season 17 will show that journey in full, including the breakdown of her business and what it took to rebuild it.
“I really go deep into the breakdown in my business,” she said. “Not as a victim, but I am sharing my story so that you can feel empowered and inspired.”
She continued,
“I’m not just an entrepreneur,” she added. “I’m a human being that has highs, that has lows, and people can see that and relate. She’s tangible.”
Beyond the business, #RHOA watchers will also get a closer look at her personal life, including her marriage to Derrick “Big Dave” Hayes, the CEO of Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks, whom she wed in 2023.
“He didn’t want to do it in the beginning, if we’re being honest,” she said.
According to Pinky, they went back and forth about putting their lives on display, but she ultimately saw the bigger picture.
“We are Atlanta royalty. Why wouldn’t we utilize this opportunity?” she said.
And when it comes to the fellow Housewives, Pinky says the dynamic is exactly what you would expect.
“We got a couple screws loose,” she joked to BOSSIP with a laugh. “Sometimes I’m at the table like, ‘What did I sign up for?’”
Still, beneath the tension, she sees something deeper.
“It feels like a sisterhood, and sisterhood is not always going to be easy.”
She has also found her footing alongside fellow newcomer and her Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., sister K. Michelle, who she also considers a true sister within the cast.
“That’s my sister,” Pinky said. “I don’t think I would have been able to do this without her.”
Their bond extends beyond filming and into real life, offering both support and strategy as they navigate the group together.
At the same time, Pinky is clear about the energy she brings into the space.
“I can’t be tested,” she said. “I know who I am and I know whose I am.”
And at the end of the day, she’s showing up exactly as she is.
“I’m different,” she said. “And I think that’s what this show needed.”

Plant-Based Powerhouse Pinky Cole Talks #RHOA Season 17, Sisterhood & Slutty Vegan [Exclusive] was originally published on bossip.com

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Midwives and maternal health advocates sue Georgia over its restrictive midwifery laws claiming they deepen maternal health crisis.
Jamarah Amani became a midwife because of what happened to her in a Georgia hospital. Staff dismissed her birth preferences. She had no autonomy over her own body during one of the most vulnerable moments of her life. It was, she says, “distressing,” and it is an experience that Black women across this country know far too well. 
“I had no autonomy and was treated more like a prisoner than a patient. I ended up laboring in the hospital bathroom so I could be in the position I knew was right for me,” she shared during a press conference. “Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon experience, especially for Black women whose desires and concerns are routinely dismissed in our broken medical system.”
That experience led her to her “life’s work” in midwifery, which she studied, trained for, and became licensed for in Florida, because Georgia law made it nearly impossible to do otherwise. And for more than 15 years, she has been unable to practice in the state where her calling was born.  
Last week, standing in front of the Georgia state Capitol on the last day of the legislative session, Amani announced she was done waiting. She, along with fellow midwives Tamara Taitt and Sarah Stokely, filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia, challenging its strict restrictions on midwifery, which have pushed birth workers out of the state and left pregnant women in Georgia with limited care options. 
“It should not be illegal to give birth at home with a midwife. Every pregnant person should be able to choose where they give birth and with whom,” Amani, the co-founder of the National Black Midwives Alliance, added. 
The lawsuit was filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Covington & Burling LLP, and Mitchell Shapiro Greenamyre & Funt LLP and was announced the same day Georgia lawmakers failed to pass HB520, a bill that would have largely decriminalized midwifery in the state. A failure that advocates say mirrors a broader, national unwillingness to reckon with the worsening maternal health crisis. Georgia’s midwifery laws are among the most restrictive in the country. State law threatens jail time and financial penalties for any midwife who practices without a nursing license, regardless of their training or experience. And even certified nurse midwives, who are trained to deliver babies and prescribe medications, cannot practice independently without costly physician oversight arrangements. 
In February, Georgia’s oldest freestanding birth center closed its doors, leaving just three in the entire state. As of last August, only 36% of Georgia’s rural hospitals were providing labor and delivery services. Families in large portions of the state now travel three to four hours to reach the Atlanta Birth Center — currently the closest option available to them.
Taitt, who serves as the Atlanta Birth Center’s executive director, is legally prohibited from practicing midwifery in the very center she runs.
“Georgia has a maternity care crisis, and the state continues to squander a workforce that could help change that,” she shared. “The solution is more midwives, and lawmakers need to let us practice. As the US continues to fall behind in maternal mortality and morbidity, the rest of the world employs the solution: more midwives. As a country and as a state, we are visibly failing pregnant people – especially Black women, rural families, and communities of color.”
“That is a failure of access, and it places people at risk,” she concluded. 
These failures don’t land equally. Black women in the U.S. die in childbirth at dramatically higher rates than white women, a disparity driven by systemic racism in healthcare, geographic isolation from providers, and a medical establishment that routinely discounts the pain and preferences of Black patients. Research consistently shows that increased access to midwives leads to better outcomes, particularly for patients of color and lower-income families with fewer C-sections, medically induced interventions, and more personalized, dignified care.
“We cannot solve the maternal health crisis without midwives—they are a key part of the solution in Georgia and nationwide. Yet under Georgia law, midwives are treated like criminals,” said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights. “These extreme restrictions are exacerbating the maternity care crisis and infringing on the rights of pregnant women who want to give birth with midwives. We are suing the state because pregnant people should have the autonomy to decide who they give birth with, and taking away options while there is a glaring lack of providers is senseless. We must break down these legal barriers to improve maternal health care in this country.”
For Amani, the fight for justice is both personal and rooted in ancestral history. She credits the work of activists like Aurelia Browder, whose federal lawsuit challenging bus segregation in Montgomery laid the legal groundwork for the successful conclusion of the bus boycott, and Gladys Milton, a midwife who fought for years against the state of Florida for the right to practice midwifery, paving the way for future generations. 
“We are not asking. We are demanding our rights,” she shared. “For the elders and the grand midwives who have carried their knowledge and traditions across generations, despite the state’s determination to stamp them out…for the courageous Black midwives whose fights for justice have led me here. Today, we continue that legacy.”
“This state and our country are in crisis, and for years, Georgia has turned its back on the obvious solution: midwives. Mamas want us. Families need us. And we’re here, ready to care for them. So it’s time for Georgia officials to get on board.” 
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CBS announces “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen,” plus one more Allen Media-produced show, is taking over their late-night schedule.
“Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen” is getting a new airtime over at CBS. 
After Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show” ends on May 21, the following day, on May 22, Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” will move into the 11:35 p.m. timeslot, and the comedy game show “Funny You Should Ask,” also produced by Allen, will be airing right after at 12:35 a.m, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 
“Comics Unleashed,” a hybrid between a late-night show and a comedy showcase hosted by Allen himself, had been airing in the later spot this season and also aired there during the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes. Meanwhile, during a year that has seen many shake-ups in both late-night and daytime television, the “Late Show” was canceled; the network cited it as a financial decision.  
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Allen is buying time from the network to air the two shows, with Allen Media Group, his company, selling the available ad spots. Which could potentially help CBS see a profit in late-night. 
Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, called the move a major opportunity, saying the world can never have enough laughter. Allen’s shows have featured talented comedians early in their careers, including Kevin Hart, Roy Wood Jr, and more.
“I created and launched Comics Unleashed 20 years ago so my fellow comedians could have a platform to do what we all love — make people laugh,” Allen said in a statement. “I truly appreciate CBS’ confidence in me by picking up our two-hour comedy block of Comics Unleashed and Funny You Should Ask, because the world can never have enough laughter.” 
Allen also owns entities such as The Weather Channel, Local Now and theGrio.
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Chilli is allegedly taking the rumors of her allegiance to MAGA to heart as a source close to her claims it’s affecting the legendary artist.
Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas is worried that four letters—MAGA—may have tainted her legacy.
Over the past week, Chilli has had to answer for her alleged allegiance to Donald Trump and his conservative cronies; however, the “No Scrubs” singer’s vehement denial landed on deaf ears. Former fans of TLC have all but demanded that they be removed from the tour they are planning to co-headline with Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue, while others have taken to pointing out proof of Chilli’s MAGA values by going through her following list and liked posts.
“She’s taking this all very seriously, and this shouldn’t supercede a legacy that includes the empowerment of black women,” a source close to Chilli told PageSix. “She’s not that person. She really isn’t MAGA. She voted for President Obama twice. There’s no MAGA community around her. She looks at MAGA as [the Jan. 6th insurrectionists].”
People love to dogpile so it remains to be seen how Chilli’s image rehabilitation will work. If patterns are any indication, she’ll be held to a much higher standard than her male counterparts who’ve publicly supported Trump—Kanye, Nelly, Snoop Dogg, to name a fe—-and will likely always be associated with what people believe to be true rather than the truth itself.
So far, there’s been no announcement about TLC being removed from the It’s Iconic Tour and the other ladies seem to have rallied behind Chilli despite the controversy. Salt of Salt-N-Pepa showed her support in a comment under Chilli’s post about the whole ordeal.
“Chilli please keep your pretty head all the way up sister, this world is very quick to believe anything and everything posted on social media,” Salt said in a comment. “Quick to crucify and slow to forgive. Even when you straighten it out haters will always hate. We know you and your heart.”
Here’s to hoping it’ll all be a little less unpretty in time for the tour.

Chill On Me: TLC’s Chilli Is Worried That MAGA Rumors Will Taint Her Legacy was originally published on bossip.com

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